He's actually human…

Greg Maddux is 1-9 in his career against the Diamondbacks…hard to believe anyone has had his number like that over the years, but that sounds like a surefire sign to me that he’s going to throw a no-hitter tonight.

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The usual suspects, I see🙂

Never thought seeing Drew and Kent bat back to back would fill me with dread, but there it is!😀

No reason for Maddux to do badly against the Diamondbacks today. The team has to be more or less completely different from the teams that wrapped him up in the past. And shouldn’t this lineup be able to provide some run support?

Little is conjoined at the hip with JD Drew in the cleanup spot, and untill death do they part. Why isn’t Nomar or even Kent hitting in that slot? Drew’s power numbers have dropped off the planet. Someone, please stop the madness! We have the talent to get the runs we need, but not with this lineup. Here’s my day-dream for today. Someone wake me when it’s over, okay?

I’ve pretty much have stayed out of this Drew debate becasue I think most of what I’ve been hearing is just frustration. But I have to say, go to the Dodger team stats and see it for yourself. Drew is 1st in RBI, 3rd in HR, 3rd in TB, 1st in BB, 3rd in OBP, 2nd in TOTAL GAMES !!!, 2nd in AB, 4th in Hits, 7th in SLG and 12 in AVG. Now if you guys were Grady and you were looking for the right combination in your lineup, you have to give these kind of numbers some very serious consideration !!! Give this guy his just rewards, not just for what he’s done but for what he’s capable of !! This is not 2005, he hasn’t taken a dive and it’s not his decision to sit the day before a day off, Grady and the Coaches make that decision. This is a team and Drew is contributing, the numbers prove it !!! I like what I see, do I think he’s worth the $55 Mil he’s making ?? Of course not, but then I don’t think any Ball Player is worth that kind of money !!! That’s why I don’t miss Beltre $65 Mil, Brown $105 Mil, Piazza $90 Mil or any of those other high priced primadonnas !! I like seeing the Kids come up and this year has been the best year for that in a long time !!! I think Nomar has been great, but he just might not be a Dodger next year becasue he’s going to comand a big contract in the off season and the Dodgers have a very good kid in Loney that comes in at a fraction of the price. What’s the right decision ?? They’ll probably go with Loney and spend the money on pitching !!!

hey ksspark, i got that too, is neone else getting it?.. and when we where winning, my kid loney was in there, and at this point i’d rather have him in right field instead of mike marshall j.r., … i also hope to see a lot of my kids getting the call, i.e. kemp, loney, kuo, laroche, miller, young, and mayber even joel hanrahan who i think deserves it.. this guy was our best pitching prospect at one point, the reds even offered us adam dunn straight up for him, and we said no, thats how high dodger brass thought of him, and after a couple of down years, it seems likes hes back, so to give this guy a call up would be a great story..

Yeah… all I’m trying to do is post my comments about my lineup choice and it still won’t let me post it. Josh, this is frustrating. I really had some good points about my lineup and it’s still not letting me post it.

Maddux is a master. Greg could you please have a sit-down with Brad Penny and show him how not to melt down on the mound during the future? We need Brad to not have the umpires hate him so much. Thanks for your help. I’m sure you’ll know just what to say that will wake him the heck up.

I have to sgree with GS a little bit. Drew may not be the greatest,but who is the alternative? It’s been pretty well documented he does not give a 100% all the time, but I really don’t get to see Blue often enough to see for myself. I read “3 Nights in August” in which La Russa thought perhaps another manager might be able to reach Drew. The Braves did not offer him a contract at the end of his stint in Atlanta, as I recall. Not the greatest, especially at his salary. I see Coletti continues to watch the waiver wire but the players he claims are withdrawn. So…perhaps Drew should bat lower in the order but he is what we’ve got. I’ve noticed in the past he’s done well after being criticized here, so hopefully he’ll do something big tonight. The coming couple of months would be a great time to earn those big bucks.

Why is Nancy Drew still hitting clean-up. She is not a power hitter… she should be hitting in the 6th or 7th spot. I’m tired of her patented weak ground balls to 2nd. Ethier or Betemit would be a much better choice instead of our little cream- puff Drew.

I agree with you about Drew on most points, however his SLG percentage is not where it should be for a “cleanup” type of hitter. As far as everyday players are concerned, his SLG percentage is actually fifth best on the team. But the four players above him really tell the tale:

1) Ethier, .541

2) Nomar, .524

3) Betemit, .493

4) Kent, .452

5) Drew, .449

That’s why I believe that for now, the best cleanup hitter we have with experience is Nomar. Ethier really should be hitting lower in the lineup, batting 3rd. He’d do well with the rabbits on base, with Nomar to finish matters off. It’s worth a try.

I would agree Kris, Drew doesn’t have the pop or the SLG to be a #4. But 1st in RBI’s is why Grady keeps him in the top 5 spots. He wants those extra at bats. My only point was overall Drew has earned “A” spot in the lineup !!! After all he has played the second most games, 114, as any other player on the team !! and he’s coming off injuries !!! The “Cream Puff” comments just aren’t justified when to look at the numbers !!

For goodness sake get off the guys lets please JD Drew hunt… Far more worried about the fact that the team is playing horrible baseball and we just gave up the lead on 2 un earned runs….. Were are making first pitch outs, errors etc… I hate to say it but it looks like were back in the funk…. We really need to get our act together!!!

Lets go BLUE!!! you are the better team, play like it!

Claudio Vargas looks like after the hickup in the 1st he can dominate our line up… I really dont understand what happens to this team when we get behind.

from now, all we are gonna do is badtalk j.d. drew, look how he has responded today.. but our defense has to get better.. betemit has been struglin at the plate lately, so maybe my kid laroche has a chance, who knows…

atta girl drew it takes his little brother to make him hustle nice! what happen to his arm that has to be one of the weakest arms for a right fielder? Hey giant fan that says it all “I don’t care you guys are in first.” that says it all!! you guys stink!!DODGERS RULE giants DROOL!!!!

Eric Byrnes’ hit in the eighth inning should have been played by Rafael Furcal and not Wilson Betemit. Betemit showed good hustle getting to and stopping the ball, but it was a case where he should have let the ball go. Clearly Rafael had the easier play on the ball. Betemit made it a close play, but Furcal had the angle on the ball. The two of them need to get together and talk about these situations, and trust in each others’ defense. Wilson needs to allow Furcal to make those plays… and tonight if he did, then we should have won this game already.

this is the worst coached team ever. if you blink your eye, with the Dback bullpen runnig on fumes, if yous so much as sneeze, you miss the top 1/2 of another 5-6 pitch scoreless dodger inning. its amazing, were DONE!

and the losing continues, todays game was pathetic.. lousy fielding, and for the most part lousy hitting.. the dodgers have to change their hitting approach… nomar, betemit, ethier, and little really let me down today..

This game was the worst of the year as far as I am concerned. We really needed the win to pad our lead. We had the lead several times and lost it several times. Maybe the guys are out of gas and it is a harbinger of things to come for the rest of the year. I hope not but the Dodgers really need to bear down and play every pitch like they are in the playoffs.

1) I’m not going to say that Josh jinxed the game with the title of this post, but Maddux pitched a pretty awful game. Really, 10 hits and 2 walks with no K’s just isn’t good. I am still puzzled a bit, though, with why Grady insists on a pitch count limit of 80 for Maddux. He always gets off to a rough start and is better once he gets into the middle of the game. Even with the way he pitched last night, he would have been better than Gio.

2) JD Drew came through and in a big way. He homered twice, and drove in the go-ahead run that nearly won the game. Perhaps even more impressive was his throw to get his brother out, considering his defense has been the most troublesome.

3) Takashi Saito and Jonathan Broxton have generally been reliable. Occasionally they falter, but it is even more rare tha they would do that on the same night. Two blown saves in a game is a rare feat, and not one to be particularly proud of either.

4) Russell Martin went yard last night, and also caught 15 innings. Even fresh from an off-day Thursday, Toby Hall might catch Derek Lowe to rest Martin here. Potentially, the Dodgers could rest their 3-5 guys and move up Ethier, Betemit and Martin in the lineup to look like

Furcal

Lofton

Lugo

Saenz

Ethier

Betemit

Martinez

Hall

And that wouldn’t be too bad.

5) The last time the Dodgers won, Derek Lowe was the starter. He can go deep into the game, and he can pitch well. His one obstacle is that too many Diamondbacks hit him last time, but that was in July. In August he’s 3-1 with a 1.76 ERA, having pitched at least 7 innings in each start this month, and he has regained his sinker grip, which wasn’t quite working for him in July. There is good reason for optimism today.

“That was a great game out there tonight,” Dodgers manager Grady Little said. “We made a couple of mistakes defensively, but we came out of the gates swinging. It was just one of those nights where we needed to score a few more than we did.”

….ummm… a “great game” WOW!!!! you want to know why we go on 5,6,8 game loosign streaks? A “GREAT GAME”?!!!! HOLY COW! Yea, few more runs would have been good….

Well, yes – Little can be the man of understatement or the funny turn of the phrase. I suppose if we end up the season a couple of games out, he’ll say “Well, it was certainly a GREAT SEASON. We could have won a couple more games, and look at where we would be.” Yeaaa!

Anyone else remember 2 sorta sloppy/low energy back to back extra innings losses to StL about 6 weeks ago? Pressure is HUGE on Lowe to step up and right the ship tonight. I think he can do it. I hope he can do it.

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